For all of the fun, exciting new experiences, and, frankly, carefree irresponsibility of our high school years, how many of us truly would truly want to relive them?

Thanks to Diane Gonzales Bertrand's sharply drawn characters and rich story lines, those of us long past our high school years can relive them, while those teenagers now living through them can find comfort in seeing their lives mirrored.

Few writers capture the roller-coaster range of teenage emotions and experiences better than San Antonio's Bertrand, an award-winning children's book writer and young adult novelist. Her abundance of gifts, including her empathy, conscience and clear and direct language, are on display again in her new young adult novel "The F Factor."

Javier Avila is the youngest member, by 12 years, of a loving and close-knit San Antonio family. He is about to begin his sophomore year at St. Peter's, an all-boys Catholic high school. He's a "brainiac," for which he is held with pride by family, teased by friends and mocked by junior and senior jocks.

Not possessing the athletic skills and personality of his siblings, his focus is on being the smartest and getting the best grades. He's so obsessed with studying and living up to the image he has of himself that he doesn't participate in any extracurricular activities.

That changes at the start of the school year when a priest puts an elective on his schedule, a new class called media broadcasting. Worse, the hard-driving and sarcastic teacher, Mr. Seneca, pairs him with Pat Berlanga, and they become the first anchormen for the school's televised announcements. Pat is the opposite of Javier. He's a slacker known only for his ability to fall asleep anywhere.

But they turn out to have a gift for broadcasting and become friends. Pat also has a beautiful older sister on whom Javier has a crush. As the boys develop a trusting and loyal friendship they each draw the other out of his comfort zone.

As the story develops, Bertrand, writer-in-residence at St. Mary's University, deftly illustrates the confidence slowly growing within the boys as well as the very different kinds of families they come from. Pat's father is a famous automobile dealer, but Pat often stays with his grandmother.

By the time the novel unfolds to its dramatic end, the reader understands and appreciates what Bertrand has done. With humor and sharp observation, she's written a novel about the importance of young people moving out of the pigeonholes they've been put in by others — or themselves.

"The F Factor" is a story about not being so afraid to fail that you're afraid to take chances and discover your hidden talents. As much as anything, it's a story about young people discovering their voices and learning to confidently use them.

At one point in the book, Brother Calvin, who forced Javier to take the elective, warns him about the difference between passion and obsession and tells him, "You know, Javier, there are other ways to fail besides getting an F on a report card. What about failing to try something new? What about failing to discover something to feel passionate about?"